Soul Sacrifice Delta will be first to arrive on May 13th, and we’ll confirm more details around Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines and Freedom Wars in the coming months. For now, I’ll hand over to the games’ respective producers to tell you more about each title. And then later today look out for an interview with JAPAN Studio chief Allan Becker.

Soul Sacrifice Delta

Soul Sacrifice Delta is the ultimate edition of Soul Sacrifice with tons of new content and improvements. Grim, the faction who believes in neutrality in all things, joins the blood thirsty Avalon and the merciful Sanctuary, and adds a third angle to bring the Delta in Soul Sacrifice. Grim’s beliefs, rooted in the prophecy they will seek to realise, will bring about irrevocable changes to the world as we know it.

The concept of faction is now at the heart of the game with players able to join the side of their choice, each with their own strengths and play styles. Players from each faction can now register their overall progress.

Soul Sacrifice Delta brings a lot of new content as well, with new Archfiends inspired by dark retellings of classic fairy tales, new sorcerers, arenas, spells and even more quests.

We have also made many improvements to the game design and systems: the graphics engine has been optimized, some arenas are now dynamic with weather effects and structural changes during battle, the spells system has been refined and allows for more collaborative and deeper gameplay.

We’ve also improved the AI of the Archfiends, who are now more vicious than ever. Finally, we’ve taken character customization to a new level, with the ability to mix custom parts and accessories.

Save data from Soul sacrifice including story progression, costumes, offerings, sigils, black rites, life/soul essence and lacrima (up to 10,000) will carry over to Soul Sacrifice Delta! So, if you transfer your save data from Soul Sacrifice, the story progression will carry over and you can continue on with your adventure in Soul Sacrifice Delta.

So that’s Soul Sacrifice Delta in a nutshell, but please stay tuned for more information soon. – Kumi Yuasa

Freedom Wars

We’re excited to finally announce that Freedom Wars is coming to North America! Some of you may have caught wind of the team working on this title, but JAPAN Studio, Shift and Dimps have joined forces to create an action-packed RPG on PlayStation Vita!

Freedom Wars is set in a dystopian world which harbors prisoners, each with a million-year sentence set from birth. You take on the role of a prisoner, forced to fight for your freedom by completing rescue missions that will reduce your seemingly insurmountable prison sentence.

Supported by a robust multiplayer suite, up to four players can play via Ad-Hoc and eight players via Online to fight civilian Abducters; the more civilians you set free, the shorter your sentence becomes. In addition to the challenging co-op gameplay, you’ll be pleased to know that the game has many customizable features ranging from weapon load-outs to the protagonist itself! Check out our new trailer and make sure to stay tuned for more news on Freedom Wars, launching later this year! – Dais Kawaguchi

Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines

Next up we have Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines which is one that you JRPG fans need to have on your radar. “What does ‘Oreshika’ mean?”, I hear you cry. Actually the full title in Japanese is ‘Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke’ which means something along the lines of ‘Go Forth Over My Dead Body’.

In case you haven’t guessed it by now it’s an RPG in which you take charge of an ancient Japanese clan that have been cursed with a maximum lifespan of just 2 years. Your task is to lead the clan on their quest to lift the curse and enlist the help of gods inspired by Japanese mythology to make sure each new generation of the clan is more powerful than the last.

We’ve got some screenshots to show off the beautiful Japanese art style of the characters and environments, but it looks even more fantastic on the PS Vita screen! We’ve got lots more details to share on this one very soon so stay tuned. – Tomoyo Kimura

Now this is what I’m talking about! About time Sony focused on bringing us decent EXCLUSIVE 1st party content on the Vita. Not ports, remakes or indies. But actual exclusive retail games designed with the Vita in mind. Keep this up Sony, this is what the Vita truly needs to be successful. Now just officially announce Tales of Hearts R already! We know its coming with the recent leak. Just make it official!

Go Forth Over My Dead Body is a better title than the one they settled on. Looks interesting no matter what it’s called anyway.
And yeah, I’ve had my fill of Monster Hunter-type games, but I know others can’t get enough of them.

Sweet! All games that I was waiting to hear localization announcements for. I know these are all SCE games that have been announced for localization, but the next Vita games I *really* would like to see stateside are Phantasy Star Online 2 and God Eater 2.

Anyway, hunting games have become something of a genre of their own now, and both of the ones announced here look to be very unique experiences. They’re hardly two more Monstee Hunter clones to toss on the nonexistent pile of already existing clones – all there is is arguably Toukiden for clones.

As for “AAA” games? That seems to be less and less a descriptor of anything objective and more and more a wors for anything that people especially like.

And isn’t the idea that Vita delivers games just as well as a PS3? I see no logic in that complaint – or most of what you’re saying, frankly. All Sony is doing here is bringing some games over. Bamco is supporting the Vita in Japan and Capcom is barely making new games at all right now, so I doubt handhelds are much of a priority. Be realistic here.

Hello, I just came here to say that I love you guys at PlayStation.
And that I’m still waiting for Gravity Rush 2.
And God Eater 2.
I think I’ll get Freedom Wars and Oreshika. SS Delta, hmm maybe if I’ve got spare money.
Keep up the good work!

As much as I love all of the indie love that Vita has received, I’m very excited to see three AAA Vita exclusives announced for the system. And developed/lovingly-crafted by Sony Japan Studios! What’s even more exciting is that these games were announced ahead of E3. Sony could’ve easily been shown during the Sony presser to highlight Vita games coming to the platform by the end of the year. The fact that you guys announced these strictly through the blog and other media outlets has me truly intrigued by what E3, Gamescom, and other trade shows hold for the PSVita. Well done!

This great and all, but i have to ask.. .. Why is it that, NA & EU players have wait 4 to 6 months (some cases more then a year) for a Japanese game to be released in other languages that are npt Japanese or Chinese?

Other Sony 1st party devs release their games in multiple languages on the same date (most cases the same week) , no problem. A lot of people would like to not import a game just so they can play with thier friends from japan.